Area of research

Summary

I am a physicist who uses Earth Observation (EO) data, primarily from satellites but also airborne platforms, to study the cryosphere. My research interests are broad but can loosely be described as cryospheric processes and their interaction with the rest of the climate system. Most of my research focuses on using EO techniques, including laser and radar altimetry, Synthetic Aperture Radar, imaging spectrometry and gravimetry, to investigate the behaviour of the ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland. I have, however, also applied similar methods to study the Patagonian Ice Caps, Svalbard, Himalayan glaciers and Arctic sea ice. Much of my most recent research relates to the impact of melting land ice on sea level rise (SLR) and also the response of the ocean to changes in freshwater forcing. Thus, I have worked on investigating the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) among other oceanogrpahy problems.

Most of the EO techniques I employ fall into the category of satellite geodesy and I have used the same methods to produce digital elevation models of various land surfaces. Digital terrain modelling is, therefore, another aspect of my research.

Biography

Jonathan Bamber is a professor in physical geography. He graduated from Bristol University with a degree in Physics in 1983 and went on to complete a Ph.D at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, in glaciology and remote sensing. He then spent eight years in the Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London before returning to Bristol in 1996. His main areas of interest are in applications of remote sensing data in the polar regions. More specifically, he has been working on the use of remote sensing data to elucidate the morphology and dynamics of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. More recently he has begun work on cryosphere-climate interactions and feedbacks through a combined modelling and observational approach.

He is also involved in remote sensing research in the department and has interests in the use of remote sensing data for a variety of other applications such as the generation of digital elevation models and in oceanography